Scott Peterson Jury Recommends Death Sentence

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 13, 2004 — -- Nearly two years after Laci Peterson was reported missing on Christmas Eve, jurors today recommended her husband, Scott, be put to death for the slayings of the pregnant woman and their unborn son.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos had his arm around Peterson as the jury entered the courtroom. Peterson did not show any reaction when the verdict was read. But Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, was crying.

The jury began deliberating Peterson's fate last Thursday and took about 11 ½ hours to reach a unanimous decision on the sentence recommendation. Jurors reached their decision after they requested autopsy photos and other evidence that had been under court seal and presented during the first phase of the trial.

In addition to the autopsy photos, they asked to see aerial photographs of San Francisco Bay -- which covers the area where Peterson said he had been fishing the day Laci was reported missing and where prosecutors believed he dumped her body -- and the widely publicized Christmas party picture of Laci wearing a red pantsuit.

The jury looked tired following the announcement, and one juror appeared to have been crying. Two jurors smiled at Rocha as they exited the courtroom.

Following the verdict, jury foreman Steve Cardosi told reporters the sentencing decision was difficult. "It just seemed to be the appropriate justice for the crime, given the nature and how personal it really was against his wife and his child," he said.

Laci's stepfather, Ron Grantski, told reporters the family has lived a nightmare for two years. "It hasn't changed. It is still a nightmare," he said, with Rocha and other family members and friends crying beside him. "It should not have happened. It hurts too many people for no reason. But justice was served."

Grantski thanked the police for their work on the case and said the jury made the right decision. "They had no reason to doubt that it was Scott who did what he did," he said, "and he got what he deserved."

Laci, 27, was about 7 ½ months pregnant when Scott Peterson reported her missing on Dec. 24, 2002. Peterson said he had been fishing alone that day, but prosecutors said he killed Laci on either Dec. 23 or Dec. 24 and used concrete anchors to sink her body in the San Francisco Bay.

Her remains and those of the unborn son she had planned to name Conner washed ashore separately on San Francisco Bay beaches in April 2003. The bodies were found not far from the area where Peterson said he had been fishing.

"Scott Peterson was Laci's husband, Conner's daddy, the one person that should have protected them, and for him to have done that …" juror Richelle Nice told reporters, shaking her head.

The judge will take the jury's recommendation into consideration when he formally sentences Peterson, 32, on Feb. 25. Although he is not bound by the recommendation, it would be highly unusual for him not to follow it.

Geragos said all angles for appeal will be pursued and called for the media to give Peterson's parents some time before asking them to talk. "Obviously we're very disappointed," he said, adding, "I hope you understand it's a difficult time."

In his closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutor Dave Harris called Peterson "the worst kind of monster" who was undeserving of sympathy and urged jurors to impose the death penalty.